Home buying got even more affordable this week as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage set a record low for the fourth week in a row.
In its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 3.78% last May 24, a slight drop from last week’s averaged of 3.79%.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, meanwhile, stayed unchanged from last week at 3.04%, Freddie Mac reported.
Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, in a statement said, “Mortgage rates were virtually unchanged this week with fixed-rate loans remaining at record lows and helping to drive homebuyer affordability.”
Both the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index and National Association of Realtors (NAR) Housing Affordability Index reveal a record high housing affordability in the U.S.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index reveals that 77.5% of new homes and existing homes that were sold in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2012 were within the means to families earning the national median income of $65,000.
Based on the relationship among average mortgage interest rate, median family income and median home price, NAR’s composite quarterly Housing Affordability Index leaped to 205.9 in the first quarter of this year. NAR reported that this is the first time the quarterly affordability index reached the 200 mark since the recordkeeping began in 1970.
NAR President Moe Veissi, in a statement said, “For those with good credit, we’ve never seen better housing affordability conditions or market opportunities than we see at present.”
Whether you are a first-time home buyer, first-time home seller, empty nester, thinking about selling a home or buying a home, do contact the Guldi Real Estate Group. In Southern Maryland, the Guldi Group is the number one real estate team.